Professor M. Gabr of Egypt presented his paper
on "Rehabilitation of earthquake victims: social and health aspects (the Cairo
1992 experience)". He first described the consequences of an earthquake of 5.9
on the Richter scale which occurred on 12 October 1992. He mentioned that Cairo
sustained the highest damage with the loss of 560 lives, more than 2000 injured
and more than 5000 buildings collapsed. Since Egypt is not described as a
high-risk earthquake country, Professor Gabr described the event as a rare
disaster. This earthquake affected chiefly the districts and administrations of
Cairo, Fayoum, Giza, and Kalioubia.

The response and related measures were immediately started by
the Ministry of Health with the help of the Egyptian Red Crescent which was
responsible for social and psychological follow-up and support of victims.
Professor Gabr mentioned that about 50 temporary shelters were immediately
constructed for the victims and for health services for them. Strict public
health measures were taken and safe running water, soap, refuse disposal bags,
and cooking and eating utensils were supplied. Steps were taken to ensure
adequate nutrition, psychological care and social support, control of infectious
diseases and other health measures.

Subsequently some modest apartments built in Cairo but still
vacant, as well as another settlement, were used to house the earthquake
victims. The new community was helped to organize sports, adult literacy
classes, care for the handicapped, social gatherings and other activities. These
activities greatly distracted young people from harmful activities such as drug
abuse and violence. Some of the health measures included psychological
counselling, nutrition, family planning, vaccinations and AIDS education. As a
result, conditions such as depression, insomnia, agitation and other
psychological manifestations often seen among disaster victims were not seen.
Constraints like bad roads, lack of transport facilities, lack of schools, and
security problems were all dealt with within about six months and earthquake
victims were provided with an almost more comfortable life than before.
Professor Gabr added that the Red Crescent, using some initial seed money,
developed a recovery project that financially was virtually self-sustaining.

V.N. Zavgorudko and T.I. Zavgorudko
presented a poster entitled "Basic principles of resort rehabilitation of
earthquake victims". Having studied the experience of those who work in disaster
medicine, including experience after the Neftegorsk earthquake in Russia, they
noticed that one universally accepted type of rehabilitation programme was
missing. The health status of the Neftegorsk victims demonstrated the need to
provide a range of rehabilitation measures, from psychotherapy to complex
physical and spa therapy. Such rehabilitation, they argued, is necessary both
for the victims and for the rescue workers and others who provide aid in
disasters.

Rehabilitation based on active non-medication therapy is
rarely used and not well studied by clinicians. A resort has ideal capacity and
excellent facilities to provide rehabilitation to disaster victims. It has
enough hospital beds, the number of beds can be easily increased, and
specialized wards can be organized to provide special types of services
according to the needs of the patients. There are also plenty of virtually free
but highly effective natural curative remedies such as mineral waters and the
therapeutic use of mud. A resort in Russia has well developed transport links
and is administratively independent.

Mr Y. Yasuda, General Manager, Kansai Project
Development Division, The Sakura Bank Limited, Kobe, Japan, described the
aftermath of an earthquake from a bank's point of view. This description was
based on the experience of his bank during the Kobe earthquake. Mr Yasuda
related how the bank's activities were paralysed during and immediately after
the earthquake. This was due mainly to the failure of lifeline services such as
electrical power and communication. This means that even if the buildings are
strong, one is still vulnerable to major risks and therefore one needs to be
prepared. A small number of banks were operational immediately after the
earthquake and some provided services on behalf of other banks whose buildings
had been destroyed. Special cash supplies were provided from Tokyo and, because
there was no shortage of cash, panic or tension never developed.

Mr Yasuda then described the bank's emergency actions,
ranging from staff care to making cash available to the public in the shortest
time possible. He concluded with a number of lessons learned and recommendations
for the future, ranging from the psychological importance of early recovery of
cash supplies in a modern society, to help with low-interest loans for emergency
spending and reconstruction.

Mr H. Kuramochi of the Hyogo Prefectural
Government spoke on "Industrial reconstruction after the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake". Considering that there were existing emergency preparedness plans,
the size and extent of the damage took all by surprise. Many lifelines, such as
railways, roads, electricity and gas lines, were damaged for months and even
years afterwards, and the financial consequences of around 10 trillion yen
affected not only Kobe or Japan but to some extent the whole world.

Mr Kuramochi added that early action was taken after the
earthquake to invite opinions on rehabilitation from all concerned, including
the business community. Support was provided in the form of funds, subsidies,
the erection of temporary factories and other measures. He stressed that the
industries should not just aim to reconstruct to their pre-earthquake status,
but should consider growth and/or diversification for the future. Mr Kuramochi
mentioned that such plans included major reconstruction promotion projects such
as the Enterprise Zone, KIMEC (Kobe International Multimedia and Entertainment
City), a large new convention centre, an import mart and a move from heavy
industry to high-technology oriented enterprises and services. Most members of
the Great Hanshin-Awaji Economic Revitalization Plan which was formed in
December 1995 come from the business community. Within these plans, although
still dependent on support from the government, private companies play an
important part in Kobe's recovery.

The Prefecture's PHOENIX reconstruction plan has among its
aims:

- to attract foreign industry by tax
rebates;- to provide additional incentives to come to
Kobe;- to strengthen the traditional Kobe-Shanghai link;-
to construct a new China town.

Mr Kuramochi mentioned constraints, such as the 1.6 trillion
yen shortfall in tax revenues in the next 10 years, the fall in consumer demand
associated with reconstruction expenses, and the movement of population from the
affected areas. So far, residency has reached only 80% of the pre-earthquake
level. Suitable remedial measures also have to be taken to deal with this
problem and the solidarity of the whole country is still needed.

Dr D. Jurukovski, Director, Institute of
Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, University "St Cyril and
Methodius", Skopje, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, then described
the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Skopje after the 1963 earthquake and
the lessons learned from this destructive event. The main conclusions from his
presentation were:

· There is a need
for an overall coordination of multisectoral efforts that could be performed by
a civil protection organization.

· Self-organized communities
form a crucial element in the success of relief operations after
earthquakes.

· Public health issues
related to hygiene, food distribution and epidemic control should have the
greatest priority after the initial relief phase.

· Lessons learned need to be
captured, documented and applied to future development
planning.